5.  The applicant was born in 1969 and lives in Nizhniy Novgorod.
6.  In August 2007 the body of a man with multiple injuries was found in a public garden in Nizhniy Novgorod and an investigation started into the murder.
7.  On 14 September 2007 the applicant was arrested by police officers of the Kanavinskiy district police department of Nizhniy Novgorod (управление внутренних дел Канавинского района Нижнего Новогорода – “the Kanavinskiy RUVD”) at a house in the village of Druzhkovo in the Nizhniy Novgorod region. He was taken to the Kanavinskiy RUVD with Mr M.K., Ms N. and Ms S., who had been at the house with him at the time. They arrived at about 8 p.m. and were interviewed by the same officers about the murder.
8.  According to the applicant, M.K. was beaten up and gave statements implicating him in the murder, which he confirmed during a confrontation with the applicant in the presence of an investigator in the murder case. He subsequently retracted them.
9.  At about 2.30 a.m. the next morning the officers interviewed the applicant, demanding that he confess to the murder. He refused to do so and was allegedly beaten up.
10.  At 5.55 a.m. an official record was drawn up of his arrest as a suspect in the murder case.
11.  The applicant’s ill-treatment allegedly lasted until the arrival of an investigator from the Kanavinskiy District Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee at the Nizhniy Novgorod regional prosecutor’s office (“the Investigative Committee”), who was in charge of the murder case. The investigator arrived at about 6.30 a.m. and questioned the applicant in the presence of a lawyer. He refused to confess.
12.  At 9.20 a.m. the applicant was placed in the Kanavinskiy RUVD’s temporary detention facility (“the IVS”). According to its records, he wrote two statements concerning the origin of his injuries, notably an abrasion on his chin and bruising to his chest. One of the statements read that he had received the injuries “before [arriving] at the IVS”, while the other said “on 14 September on Sovetskaya Street in the village of Druzhkovo”.
13.  At about 7.30 p.m. the applicant was taken to pre‑trial detention facility SIZO-52/1. He was examined by a doctor on duty, who reported the following injuries to the head of administration: haemorrhages on the upper chest up to 7cm in size, a haematoma on the left shoulder, an abrasion on the chin and an oedema on the back of the head. The applicant wrote to the head of the SIZO explaining that he had been beaten up by police officers of the Kanavinskiy RUVD on 15 September 2007 and requested that an inquiry be carried out. The information about his alleged ill‑treatment was communicated to the Kanavinskiy district prosecutor’s office, which transferred it to the Investigative Committee on 26 September 2007.
14.  In November 2007 two police officers visited the applicant in SIZO‑52/1 and allegedly demanded under threat that he confess to the murder. He signed a confession which he later retracted. He subsequently stood trial for the murder. There is no information in the case file about the outcome of those proceedings.
15.  An investigator of the Investigative Committee carried out a pre‑investigation inquiry, in the course of which he interviewed operative officer K. of the Kanavinskiy RUVD, who had arrested the applicant and taken him to the police station for questioning by the investigator in the murder case. K. asserted that no physical violence had been used by the police against the applicant.
16.  On 3 October 2007 the investigator, relying on K.’s explanation and referring to Article 24 § 1 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (“CCrP”), refused to institute criminal proceedings under Article 286 § 1 of the Criminal Code (abuse of power) on the grounds that the constituent elements of a crime were missing.
17.  On 8 April 2008 the head of the Investigative Committee revoked the investigator’s decision on the grounds that the inquiry had been incomplete and the decision premature. He ordered, in particular, that the applicant be interviewed, along with the other police officers who had arrested him, the investigator in the murder case and the IVS officers. He also ordered that the IVS records concerning the applicant’s state of health be obtained and the gravity of harm to the applicant’s health be assessed.
18.  Ms N. stated in the course of an additional inquiry that she had not noticed any injuries on the applicant at the police station. Police officer M. said that the police had been in possession of information that the applicant may have been involved in the murder, so his whereabouts had been established and he had been taken to the police station and interviewed. The investigator in the murder case and M. both stated that they had not noticed any injuries on the applicant, maintaining that no violence had been used against him.
19.  On 17 April 2008 the investigator, referring to Article 24 § 1 (1) of the CCrP, decided that no criminal case could be opened under Article 286 of the Criminal Code since no crime had been committed. That decision was revoked on 27 May 2008 on the grounds that the inquiry had been incomplete.
20.  In the course of an additional inquiry the investigator interviewed operative officers K. and A., who both gave statements similar to those of M. (see paragraph 18 above).
21.  On 2 June 2008 the investigator again decided that no criminal case could be opened as no crime had been committed. The applicant’s allegations were refuted by the statements of the investigator in the murder case, police officers K. and M. and Ms N., as well as the one he had made on his arrival at the IVS that he had received the abrasion on his chin and bruising to his chest “on 14 September on Sovetskaya Street in the village of Druzhkovo” (see paragraph 12 above).
22.  On 3 October 2008 a judge of the Kanavinskiy District Court dismissed an appeal by the applicant against the investigator’s decision of 2 June 2008, holding that it could not be examined in review proceedings under Article 125 of the CCrP as it concerned matters to be examined at the hearing of the applicant’s case which had been referred for trial and was now pending before the District Court.
23.  On 1 December 2008 the Nizhniy Novgorod Regional Court quashed that decision and terminated the proceedings on the grounds that an examination of the applicant’s appeal against the investigator’s decision in proceedings separate from his trial could have prejudiced the legal assessment of his confession as evidence. Such an assessment had to be carried out at the hearing of the applicant’s criminal case.
24.  The applicant’s representative obtained the following medical experts’ opinions regarding the applicant’s injuries on the basis of the description recorded in SIZO-52/1 on 15 September 2007.
25.  Doctor M. stated on 16 February 2009 that the oedema on the back of the applicant’s head could have been caused as a result of being hit by a hard object. It could not be excluded that all the injuries had been caused on 14 or 15 September 2007.
26.  Forensic medical expert Y. from the Nizhniy Novgorod Regional Forensic Medical Bureau concluded in a report of 13 March 2009 that the haemorrhages on the chest, haematoma on the left shoulder and abrasion on the chin could have been inflicted by a blunt object on 14 or 15 September 2007.